Thieves steal $30,000 of guns in just seconds
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Residents of an east side duplex told I-Team 8 that police blocked the road for at least an hour Sunday while investigators searched the house.
Police on Monday would not not confirm whether the search was related to Sunday’s burglary of Beech Grove Firearms. The brazen, smash-and-grab burglary of the gun shop, police say, involved three men who used a stolen pickup truck to ram the front door of the building.
The gun shop owner says the thieves did about $60,000 of damage to his storefront and made off with close to $30,000 in firearms. The shop is at 3020 S. Emerson Ave.
The Beech Grove and Indianapolis police departments and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have been working to find the culprits.
Beech Grove police confirmed in a news release issued late Monday afternoon that a 16-year-old has been arrested and charged with carjacking the truck. No additional details about the carjacking or the arrested teenager were provided.
Greg Burge, the owner of Beech Grove Firearms, told I-Team 8 on Monday, “What I can say about the investigation is three agencies, Beech Grove, IMPD and ATF, are doing phenomenal work. I am very pleased at the direction the investigation has taken so far.”
No one would like to know the names of the three men who drove the truck through the front door than the owner. Burge, who is retired from Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, said he is, for the first time in 30 years, a crime victim.
The thieves got away with 48 handguns and maybe a few accessories. Burge and his staff were doing an inventory on Monday.
He says it appears the three men had a plan and knew exactly what they wanted, and the investigators could be hot on their trail.
Burge said, “The investigation is going in the right direction, and I predict it will have an outcome that will be, the community, society and me, the business owner, will be pleased with.”
The thieves were inside of the store for 40 seconds. One man smashed display cases, while the other two stuffed firearms into duffel bags.
“I’m 100% confident that no long guns were taken,” Burge said.
Surveillance cameras captured the burglars running from the heavily damaged front entrance and around the building, headed west toward downtown Beech Grove. Police say they had a car and driver waiting for them a few blocks away.
Since police have not announced an arrest, some concern exists that the stolen firearms may end up in the wrong hands. “But, 48 handguns definitely went under that door at 3:14 a.m., carried out by these misguided individuals and set out into the world for God only knows to do what,” Burge said